Capturing the Three Tails
by PhantomFanfic
Summary: If people haven't guessed by now, I like writing about older events in manga. They're easier to be objective to with more information and I feel there's always something to be said for the minor events. Rest is in the title, please enjoy R&R.


A little short fic I've come up with while trying to get inspiration for my Spirits of Oban fic. This basically takes a look at the off screen battle between the Three Tailed Giant Turtle and the Akatsuki. The abilities ascribed to the Tailed Beast here are primarily inspired by the anime only arc concerning it. If this goes well I may do similar for their capture of other Beasts and Hosts. Be warned, it is spoilerific. Please Enjoy.

**Capturing the Three Tails**

**Tobi's Target**

The mist hung heavy on the lake. Beneath the placid water a tremendous shadow swept silently. Standing atop the water, two men in black cloak adorned with red clouds, stood waiting for their moment to attack.

"Hey, Senpai."

"..."

"Hey, Senpai, you listening?"

"..."

"HEY, SENPAI CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

"For the Love of Buddha Tobi, what is it, hmm?" Deidara bellowed. The blonde artist's patience was officially worn out as he turned to yell at his junior colleague.

"Did ya notice? The Crab thingy's headin' this way." The orange masked Tobi pointed out as the Three Tailed Beast broke the surface of the water and started charging at the pair. Deidara's visible eye widened in horror as he turned to run.

"Hey, hey Senpai, wait for meeeee!" Tobi called as he started following.

"Oh Shut up and distract it. I'll do the rest, hmm." with that, Deidara threw out a clay bird and it transformed into a giant flying sculpture as the demented bomber hopped on its back and took to the skies. On the water, Tobi was flailing his arms as he attempted to run from the giant turtle, which really didn't help as it was fast in water and was about a hundred times his size. The Beast let out a huge roar, causing a tidal wave to surge up all around it before spreading outward, threatening to destroy anything in its path. Tobi stopped to look at it, sweat drops flying off him as he threw his arms up in terror. Before the wave could consume Tobi however, a large explosion detonated in front of the masked Akatsuki, dispersing a segment of the wave and reducing it to a heavy rain in the immediate area.

Circling high above, Deidara stood on his bird sighing at the uselessness of his partner.

"Stupid Kid, wouldn't last five minutes without me hmm." he said as he moulded clay with his palm. Spitting up several small clay fish, Deidara tossed them overboard. As they fell, they too transformed into large moving constructs and once they hit the water they took off at speed. Tobi continued to distract the Tailed Beast as it submerged once again. It lined up the sight in its one good eye as it prepared to take down the grounded Akatsuki with a single blow, but as it swam forward, the clay fish caught up with it and detonated, causing the great demon to recoil in pain. It lurched to the right, trying to avoid more damage to its face when Tobi saw his opening. Rushing for the creature side on, he planned to use his abilities to their fullest. While Hidan's triple bladed scythe made him the slowest Akatsuki to attack, Tobi's redeeming feature was his speed and he made ample use of it as he ran at the thrashing creature and hurled himself towards its shell. Deidara watched this action with interest. He dared not utter his thoughts, but what that idiotic Tobi was doing seemed semi-rational. After all, the turtle wouldn't be able to attack so long as Tobi was on its back. Of course, that was solely dependant on Tobi making it past the beast as it tossed itself around in the water like a child throwing a tantrum.

"Tobi, you idiot! Get back, you'll be crushed!" Deidara yelled as he hastily moulded more bombs. Hurling them toward the turtle, the bombs detonated to its left again, prompting it to turn further right. Throwing a few more simple explosives, he watched the creatures reactions with interest. Deidara's idea in this instance was to stop the creature moving right to attack Tobi while he advanced and it seemed to have paid off as it moved away from whichever side he dropped a bomb on. The Artist watched with interest as Tobi closed on the creature's side.

The Akatsuki seemed to have the advantage as Tobi prepared for the finishing blow. Clenching his fist, his eye focused on the beast as he jumped into the air, sailing on the breeze he drew back his arm and prepared to strike, but as he flew his eye focused on a dark figure standing astride the beast. A gentle smile and red armour, he knew that person. Another blast and the demon turned suddenly, Tobi colliding with its side with bone crushing force. Everything seemed to stop for a moment as Deidara watched to see if Tobi's attack had caused any damage. It was then that the junior Akatsuki let out a yelp of pain. Sticking his feet to the tailed beast's side with chakra, he held up one hand as it throbbed bright red.

"Senpai, this thing is hard." he moaned pitifully. A bomb detonated on the beast's shell just above Tobi.

"Of course its hard you Moron! Did you expect one of these great chakra monsters to be soft, hmm?" Deidara raged as the creature became still.

"But Senpai, my jutsu got messed up. I think this Beast has genjutsu in the mist." Tobi called up to him. Deidara looked around and right enough, the place was practically smothered in the thick mist that seemed to exude from this creature. He hadn't experienced it because he was above the mist, but given that Tobi was right in the thick of it, it seemed likely that a Tailed Beast's defence wouldn't just be a simple smokescreen, it was something more.

"Tobi! Don't get distracted. I've got an idea to finish this thing. Get in front of it and attack it's face, I'll trap it and we'll finish it off." he yelled back in response. It was then that he noticed the blue light coming from the creature's mouth as it stared right up at him. "Oh no hmm." Deidara's eye twitched as the beast launched a giant ball of water and chakra his way. The Blast connected with Deidara's bird and the sky was filled with a blast of blue chakra and drizzle.

Tobi, having gotten on top of the giant turtle properly now, wiped a tear from his eye hole as he stared up at the bright display of the Tailed Beast's power.

"Poor poor Deidara-Senpai. He was so young, so full of life..."

"Stop writing me off you Jackass, hmm!" Tobi's eye shot to a corner of the sky. There Deidara stood unscathed atop one of his finest works, the C2 Dragon. "Plan's still the same, get to work hmm." Deidara said moodily. Tobi saluted in acknowledgement before dashing off across the turtle's shell towards its face. As he ran, the spikes on its shell began to degrade, seemingly crumbling until he realised that the fragments coming from the spikes were, in fact, miniature versions of the beast itself.

"Uh oh." Tobi said, but he hadn't lost any speed or changed direction despite the mini-beasts blocking his path. As he closed on them, they scrambled to attack. The mini-beast at the forefront of the horde threw itself at him, but as it went to claw at his face it passed straight through his head, landing on the other side with nothing to show for its assault. The rest of the attack followed this trend until Tobi reached the crest of the beast's head. Kicking off it's overhanging head shell, he landed in front of the beast before straightening up and turning to stare at it.

In the air, Deidara circled as he moulded more bombs. These ones however, resembled blowfish which he scattered in the water surrounding the Tailed Beast. Once he was satisfied with the number, he flew to a position where he could see all his bombs and alligned his C2 Dragon for the assault.

"Tobi, now hmm." he called down to his partner. On the water, Tobi didn't seem to respond to Deidara's command as he simply stood staring down the primordial demon turtle.

"Now then, you remember me, don't you? You aren't as stupid as you look, you remember the fear I placed in you, and Yagura, right?" Tobi's voice was harsh and cold as he spoke to the demon, his blood red eye staring viciously up at it as it began to reflect the same three tomoe pattern on its own eye. The beast was stunned, held in an inescapable trap the instant it made eye contact with the Akatsuki's second Sharingan user. Tobi raised a hand and gave Deidara a big thumb up to Deidara. The bomber smiled as he readied the Dragon. It started spitting bomb after bomb, launching them down into his blowfish mines.

"My Art, is an Explosion! Haa!" he yelled as he performed his hand seal. The Bombs detonated, one lot, then another and another. Soon the area was engulfed in explosions and even the ferocious Tailed Beast went belly up soon enough. As the explosions died down, Deidara landed next to Tobi on the waters surface.

"Heh, even this behemoth was no match for my Art, hmm." Deidara gloated, kicking the unconscious beast before going rigid and stepping back with an injured foot.

"So Senpai, I gotta question for ya." Tobi said brightly as he put his hands behind his head.

"Yeah? What is it hmm?" Deidara replied, his victory soured by having to listen to Tobi.

"I was wonderin' how are we getting' this big thing outta here? It's a lot bigger than a normal Jinchuriki." Tobi asked and Deidara's expression fell further.

"DAMN IT HMM!" he screamed at the top of his lungs as the mist began to clear across the lake. With that, the Akatsuki had captured another of the Tailed Beasts, but there was something far more sinister at work beyond the apparent as Tobi would soon turn out to be a demon far worse than any Tailed Beast.


End file.
